Poire Williams

This is a fruit brandy made from a Williams pear (also known as Barlett in North America) and is classified as an eau de vie. It is served as a digestif, or a post-dinner drink that purportedly aids digestion. One of the traditional ways of selling it is in a glass bottle containing an entire pear. The bottle is placed on the fruit bud and it grows within the glass. If the fruit touches the glass at any time it will spoil so this is a careful process. After the fruit is ripe, it is picked and the pear brandy is added to the bottle.

We have a bottle from Switzerland that my husband has had for some years. As the level of alcohol goes down, he adds fresh Poire Williams to keep the fruit from spoiling. The liquor definitely tastes like a pear and at 40% alcohol it is strong but not harsh. I didn’t care for it much at first but it is growing on me.

2 Responses

Thanks for the comment! You made me wonder and I checked the bottle we have; it does not appear that the bottom is glued on. Various articles on the web do support the idea of the pear growing inside the bottle.